Ok guys am I missing something here, as far as I know the raised downhaul was simply a conveniance thing to allow better management of the top downhaul pulley blocks ( they used to bottom on the upper part of the boom swivel if you had anysort of shackle or rope arrangement below the lower edge of the sail ).

If you think there is something fishy here then out with it please as I think there was no intentional reason to circumvent any rules. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />